Server side filtering and sorting with field level security

• US 20070073695A1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Huang, Chih-Jen, Conlan, Patrick, Jensen, Aaron, Turner, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,599,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A project management system is enabled to implement filtering, sorting, and field level security for data associated with managed projects. A filter for field selection is prepared by a project client application and forwarded to a project server. The server generates an access attribute table based the user permissions that may be set for each field within the managed projects. Upon retrieving the selected fields from project database, the project server builds a secured list of fields. A data set to be provided to the project client is prepared by removing the fields for which the user lacks the requisite access permission prior to sorting the data. The removed data may be used for user-transparent computations within the project server, but guarded from client applications.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for securely filtering data in a project management system, comprising:

preparing a filter based on a pre-defined selection criterion for project associated data;

retrieving the selected data from a project database;

determining a restriction status of the selected data based on an assigned access attribute;

sorting the retrieved data based on the selection criterion and the restriction status; and

providing the sorted data to a client application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising post-processing the selected data with at least one additional criterion.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising validating the filter within a context of the filter'"'"'s domain.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the selection criterion and the assigned access attribute are derived from a rule.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the retrieved data following application of data restrictions, and employing the retrieved data in a project calculation regardless of the restriction status.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the data includes at least one field associated with one of a task and a resource of a project, and wherein the field is one of a default field, a custom field, an extrinsic field, and an intrinsic field.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the data includes a plurality of fields associated with tasks and resources of a plurality of projects.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the assigned access attributes include one of a read permission, a read-and-write permission, and a no-access permission;

and the assigned access attributes are based on at least one rule that is one of a default rule, a user-defined rule, and an extensible rule.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein an absence of a specific access attribute results in a pre-determined default access permission to be applied to the data, and wherein the default access permission is variable depending upon a content of the data.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer instructions for implementing server-side filtering, sorting, and field level security in a project management application, the instructions comprising:

determining a selection criterion based on a first rule for a field associated with a project;

determining an access attribute based on a second rule for a permission status of a user;

preparing a filter based on the selection criterion;

retrieving selected fields from a project database;

determining a restriction status of the selected fields based on the access attribute associated with each field;

sorting the retrieved fields based on the selection criterion, wherein a predetermined value is used for restricted fields;

post-processing the restricted, sorted data with at least one additional filter criterion; and

providing the post-processed data to a client application.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions further comprise annotating the selected fields with the associated access attributes such that actual values of restricted fields are made available for user-transparent operations within the project management system.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions further comprise dynamically modifying the first rule and the second rule, if the fields are modified by a permitted user.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the field is associated with at least one of a task and a resource of the project, and is one of a default field, a custom field, an extrinsic field, and an intrinsic field.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the selection criterion includes at least one Structured Query Language (SQL) query type.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the sorted fields are used for one of a user-transparent project operation, a user-specified operation, and a report.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions further comprise modifying a portion of the selected fields in the project database based on a content of the sorted fields.

17. A system for server-side filtering and sorting project data in a secure manner, the system comprising:

a project database configured to store project data;

a project client configured to;

prepare a filter based on a sorting rule; and

a project server configured to;

receive the filter from the project client;

determine selection criteria based on the sorting rule;

determine access attributes based on a permission rule associated with a user;

retrieve a selected portion of the project data from the project database based on the selection criteria;

determine a restriction status of the retrieved portion of the project data;

sort the retrieved portion based on the selection criteria, wherein a null value is used for restricted data;

post-process the restricted, sorted data with further selection criteria; and

provide the post-processed data to the project client.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the project database is further configured to store at least one of the permission rules, sorting rules, access attribute tables, and the dataset.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the project data is associated with a plurality of projects.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the project server is further configured to use the sorted data in a user-transparent operation.